Team-sanctioned fan fests are generally laid-back affairs. The perk being that fans get to interact with the players (and management, to an extent) in ways that never happen otherwise.
Take, for instance, the Q&A sessions that are a staple at these kinds of events. Usually, these sessions serve as PR batting practice for players, who flick away easy and hard questions with communications department-approved answers.
"Usually" is the operative word in that last sentence, because sometimes you get Baltimore Orioles slugger Chris Davis blasting Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista. That's what happened on Saturday anyway:
Orioles Chris Davis at FanFest on Jose Bautista: "He's actually a pretty good dude -- said no one ever....He's a guy who's easy to dislike."
— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) January 28, 2017
Sheesh.
It should be noted that Orioles general manager Dan Duquette spent the winter distancing himself from Bautista by citing how the O's fanbase had grown accustomed to disliking Bautista. That seemed like odd reasoning -- the quickest way to make fans like a good player is to acquire him -- but maybe Duquette was just saying that to cover for his players -- or at least one pretty important player.
If nothing else, Davis probably just became more popular in Baltimore.
